U7 in Rostov Scythians

I found it quite interesting that in terms of mtDNA, the Rostov Scythians studied by der Sarkissian resembled closely the Shugnans of Tajikistan, who speak an eastern Iranian language. The author finds links between the Scythians and the "Central Asian Corridor", in particular with respect to mtDNA haplogroup U7.

This "Central Asian Corridor" sensu der Sarkissian (Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India) seems to touch Frachetti's Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (shown below) in the region of the Pamirs.

Interestingly, the Sughnans belong, anthropologically to the Pamir-Ferghana type, which was also called Central Asian interfluvial type, the rivers in question being the Oxus and Jaxartes (Amu Darya and Syr Darya). And, of course, between these two rivers was the heartland of the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex, which I have previously linked with the Indo-Iranians.

Wells et al. studied Y-chromosomes of Sughnans, Yagnobis and other Iranic survivals of Tajikistan more than 10 years ago, and it will be very well worth revisiting them with newer methods. The area east of the Caspian and west of the IAMC intersects so much history, that any data from from it (new or ancient) would be extremely useful.

In my own experiments there has been an unambiguous "South Asian" genetic component in almost all Iranic peoples, even the westernmost Kurds. While the interpretation of this component is not easy, it does point to a genetic relationship between its possessors and Central/South Asia, with notable contrasts between Kurds/Iranians and their non-Iranic Armenian/Anatolian/Caucasian neighbors.

The occurrence of mtDNA haplogroup U7 in the Rostov Scythians is also consistent with a link between the Iranian nomads who penetrated into Europe with the area east of the Caspian, and it is also, of course, consistent with the narrative of Herodotus who recorded the migration of the Scythians into Europe.

There is a widely held theory that the origin of the Indo-Iranians are to be sought in eastern Europe. That theory appears inconsistent both with the "South Asian" autosomal signal in Iranic groups, and with the mtDNA evidence. Consider, again, the evidence of der Sarkissian:

Now, if Rostov Scythians were primarily descended from Mesolithic West Eurasians or even Bronze Age ones, then we would expect them to cluster at the "top", approaching the northern Europeoid extrema of PWC and Bronze Age Altai (ALT-BA). On the contrary, their position is well to the "south" of all European Bronze Age groups, and intermediate between Europeans and Iron Age Asian groups from south Siberia and Kazakhstan (KUR-IA, KAZ-IA). Again, this is compatible with an east-west migration during the Iron Age.

It might be worth speculating on the possible autosomal history of the steppe, for which the mtDNA evidence complements others: I offer that the long-term trend will be one of diminishing "North European", increasing "West Asian" and "East Eurasian" influences across the Neolithic-Bronze-Iron Age boundaries. At the western end of the steppe, there may also be "Mediterranean"/Sardinian-like infusions from the Balkans and Central Europe, although these clearly did not influence Inner/South Asia (where Mediterranean components shrink to non-existence), and Europe proper was mostly the recipient rather than the emitter of populations to Asia. Hopefully, autosomal data to test this conjecture will be made available in the coming years.